“Little bit luck tonight, but he’s certainly earned it throughout this IPL” – RCB’s Mike Hesson welcomes Virat Kohli finding feet vs GT

Virat Kohli rode a bit of luck against the Gujarat Titans (GT) tonight, but the luck that he has been piling on right through IPL 2022, feels Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) director of cricket operations Mike Hesson. RCB kept their IPL playoffs hopes alive after crushing GT by 8 wickets at the Wankhede Stadium.

Kohli was going through a prolonged lean patch, and before tonight, had managed just 236 runs from 13 innings at a timid average of 19. While reiterating that there wasn’t any particular hole to plug, Hesson admitted that luck wasn’t on his side as he was finding various ways to get out.

“It started in Pune, and then from that point on, he got run-out a couple of times, obviously the one that went off the hip – he pretty much found each and every way to get out. So he’s right, there certainly wasn’t a pattern to those dismissals. The fact that he was working so hard in the nets and trying to find that rhythm away from the playing games, away from the contest, allowed him to keep that confidence up.

"But no doubt, when you go through a bit of a patch like that – he’s only human, you know – then you do start to just having the off doubt and wonder when’s your luck is going to turn. So look, little bit luck tonight, but he’s certainly earned it throughout this IPL,” the RCB chief said in response to a Sportskeeda query at the post-match press conference.

There were a slew of inside-edges and half chances that went his way, but Virat Kohli made sure he capitalised on them all. While picking up the Player of the Match award for his sublime 73 off 54 balls, he mentioned how he batted 90 minutes non-step in the nets yesterday in order to wrest his rhythm and get into a positive frame of mind.

After skipper Hardik Pandya (62* off 47) lifted GT to a competitive total of 168 for 5, Kohli and his successor Faf du Plessis (44 off 38) put on 115 runs for the opening wicket to put RCB on course of victory.

Mike Hesson highlighted Virat Kohli’s credentials in run-chases, while adding that having him firing at the top of the order makes the job easier for the team.

“Just shows like, [in] any team, if you get the top order is firing and [have] a player like Virat, then it makes the rest of the chase a lot easier. And obviously, chasing scores here hasn’t been our forte so far in this IPL. We’ve been sort of able to defend scores, but haven’t been able to chase. So I think we know Virat is the chase master, and obviously, he set the tone again today,” he remarked.

After Kohli walked off to a rousing ovation from the Wankhede crowd, Glenn Maxwell smashed an unbeaten 18-ball 40 to help the Bangalore-based outfit over the line with eight balls to spare.

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“Turn into Mumbai Indians fans” – Mike Hesson reveals RCB’s plans ahead

Virat Kohli gives batting tips to GT's Rashid Khan and Rahmanullah Gurbaz after the match [Credits: RCB]

It was one of the most resounding wins that RCB have accomplished this season. Yet, it doesn’t guarantee them a place in the Eliminator next Wednesday.

If the Delhi Capitals (DC) lose to the Mumbai Indians (MI) on Saturday, Virat Kohli and Co. would be safely through. But if Delhi emerge victorious, then NRRs (net run-rate) will come into play. And as things stand, RCB (-0.253) are way behind both DC (+0.255) and RR (+0.304).

RCB director, however, announced that the IPL team would be preparing for the potential knockout games while rooting for the Mumbai Indians.

“We will train. Tonight, we’ll have a bit of a reflection on today and the performance under pressure that we put out – we’ll celebrate that. And then tomorrow, it'll be a quiet day – obviously guys will do their recovery and their gym and so forth. And then, we’ll sit down and watch the game together as a group in our team room and obviously turn into Mumbai Indians fans. But yeah we did what we could today, and now obviously, we’ll leave it up to other teams to have to do the finishing touches,” Hesson said.

The IPL 2022 knockouts begin next Tuesday – Qualifier 1 (May 24) and Eliminator (May 25) will be played in Kolkata, while Ahmedabad is scheduled to host the Qualifier 2 (May 27) and Final (May 29).